The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-01-14
MURDER OF CONAUGHTON.
The Evidence Brought Out Yesterday in
the Trial of Constable ReinhOld.
The Testimony Regarding the Revolver Bear
ing Reinholds Initials Which Is Sup
posed to Have Fired the Fatal Shot.

The circumstances that led to the arrest OF
Constable Louis E. Reinhod for the murder Of
Thomas Conaughton few weeks ago have
awakened new interest in the case, and yester-
day morning, at 10 o'clock, when the prelim-
mary hearing was begun before Mayor Denny,
the City Court room was crowded with spectators
anxious to see what the prosecution would be
able to prove. Reinhold, having been unable to
procure bond. had spent the night in the
station house. and did not appear in the best of
spirits when he was brought into court by Ser
geant Stout His attorneys. Martz, Davis. Keal-
ing and Hugg, there in waiting for him.
The State is represented by Jesse Hamrick and
Prosecutor Mitchell occasionally dropped down
during the day to see that the prosecution was
being made thorough Mr. Hamrick was also
assisted in managing the by Detective
Grady, who summoned the witnesses and ar
ranged all the testimony
The first witness called was Sergeant SAVERS
He was carefully examined, and told word for
word the same story he did on the occasion OF
the Isaacs examination. 1t was. substantially,
that he was coming mp the avenue and was near
the Flesher residence when he heard the shots
He ran in the direction from which the sound
came, and the first person he met was Reinhold
who was going to the spot where the wounded
man was afterward found. He asked Reinhold
what the shooting meant, and Reinhold said he
had shot man he was attempting to arrest and
who had got away from him. From his position
the witness could not tell from where the shots
were fred
Pratrolman Henry, who was with Detective
Grady when the revolver was produced from the
vault at the Flesher residence, was the next
witness He stated that on last Tuesday after
noon he was passing No 122 Virginia avenue,
at which place the murder occurred, when De-
tective Grady called for him in the yard to
come over ard aid him in removing the cover
from-the vault. He went and after the cover
ing had been removed, Grady, with the aid OF q
hoe, raked up piece of paper which contained
| the weapon. The under side Of the weapon was
covered with ice, it having rested on the ice
covering tho vault. The weapon vas washed,
and Grady at once pointed out the initials IL.
t. r on the handle and on the cylinder.
Dr. e. f. Hodges. who removed the bullet from
the wounded man, testified that the bullet he re-
moved from Conaughton was 44-calibre. He
examined the revolver found and pronounced 1t
| A caliber. In examining the weapon he dis
| covered that il was 44-caibre short, while the
| bullet that killed the man was a 44calIber long.
| The revolver, when found, contained in it empty
short shells, and DR.. Hodges gave 1t as his opn-
| ion that it would be an impossibiity to fire a
| long cartridge from short revolver, because
the powder behind it would not give it the neces-
! sRry force. These were the material facts
! cleaned from Hodges's examination, after which
| an adjournment was taken until o'clock.
Upon resuming the examination in the after
| noon Sergeant Sauers was again called to the
! stand. He said that he ran about sixty feet
after he heard the first two shots before he heard
| the third. 1t was very dark night, and it was
| impossible to recognize anyone far away When
Conaughton jumped the fence. he had to run
| in Wv Hipoet inn 70 pf OF
| which the wounded man fell. shot fred from
| the northwest corner of the house would have
been directly in line with the way he was run
ming. and wo1d have taken effect in his back
James A. Shea, a yardmaster for the CiDcin-
| Lat Hamilton a. Indianapolis railroad. testified
| that on the evening of the killing he was going
| down Virginia avenue. just before he reached
| the coal Office near the Flssher house, he heard
| two shots fired The only person he saw at the
| time was woman on the street. further down,
| coming toward him. Just after the second shot
was fired Conaughton jumped the fence over
into the coal-yard near him. At that instant
| Reiuhold called out, stop that man! Shoot
him!n Conaughton had run half way to the
cars when two more shots were fired over the
fence from the northwest corner of the yard.
He saw the flashes of the last two shots, but did
not of the first two, and judged from the sound
that they were south of the house. After Con
aughton had passed him man came running
up from down the avenue and he afterwards
recognized HIM as Sergeant Sc lers. He could
|
last TWO shots.
| Mary Murtz. the woman referred to in Sheas
testimony, called to the witness stand. SHE
lives at No, 1874 English avenue, and was passing
the Flesher house on the evening of the muir
der. When the first two shots were fred She
was approaching the coal Office from the north
She heard the first two shots south OF the house
and in few seconds saw two shots fired from
the northwest corner of the yard. She was neal
the corner OF the coal Office when the third an(
fourth shots were fired. Reinhold. she stated
J had come to her house the Sunday night follow
ing the killing, and had asked her to make
statement for him.
The last witness examined was Ed Wilson
son of Patrolman Wilson. He accompanied De
tective Grady when he went to hunt for the re
, volver. He thought the weapon was not foun.
on the ice but under it. hoe handle was nset
, in breaking the ice, short time before the re
volver was found He claimed to have been tn
first to discover the initials the revolver, an,
further testified that he had seen the weapon
once before in Reinhold's possession in SPUR
Johnsons Office.
The testimony ended here, and will be con
tinued this morning. The prosecution have quit
a number of witnesses to examine yet. and tn
defense will have large number. Their line O
defense will be that the revolver was placed il
the vault by some one with sinister motives an
| will attempt to establish that the vault was no
frozen when the murder occurred, and if the re
? vover had been placed in then it could not hav
rested on the ice.
Public opinion is divided when it comes {
guessing as to who did fire the fatal shot. Their
are many who think that if Reinhold did nc
fire the shot he knows who did, and there
} some hope OF the investigation having the effec
of geAing him to tell all he knows. The gran
jury finished their work yesterday, and failed
return an indictment against any one for tn
murder 1t was stated Wednesday that the
had an indictment under consideration.
Work of the Grand Jury.
The grand jury made it's final report, yeste
, day, and adjourned. In ALL thirty-two indie
ments were returned. OF these, one was for a
l saut and battery with intent to kill, two wei
for murder, two for robbery, one for burglar,